How Do You Feel About Syncing Your Clipboard to the Cloud?

The Redstone 5 update for Windows 10 contains the ability to sync your clipboard data to the cloud. It stores a history of things you’ve copied to the clipboard and allows you to pin frequently copied items. Thankfully, it’s off by default and can only be activated if you turn it on in the Settings.

But is this feature really something people want, regardless of the operating system you use? We asked our writers, “How do you feel about syncing your clipboard to the cloud?”

Our Opinion

Alex reports he has “never found it useful in any capacity,” although he would love to understand why some people like it. He’s wondering if anyone else has a good use case. As it is, he uses the contents of his clipboard for at most an hour, and after that, “it has passed out of my field of concern.

Phil doesn’t really see the need for it. He’s both impressed and irritated by what others copy to the cloud. He sees the clipboard as “a really transient buffer which stores something I need to move from over there to over here.” He sees that if you lose the buffer through copying something else, it might be useful at that time.

Yet, he is suspicious of anything that moves data, text, or information about him and what he’s doing off a local machine and then stores it somewhere else. He realizes the tendency to set stuff up and then forget about it, but it makes him uncomfortable.

While he realizes most cloud storage is “super secure” and knows it’s not totally rational, it still gives him a slight twinge of concern when he starts to think, “What stuff might I have cut to the clipboard which I wouldn’t want anyone else to see?” The answer is “everything” to a person like him.

Andrew didn’t even know it was possible, and now that he does, he can’t think of anything he’d use it for. He has a cloud-synced notes app that lets him easily transfer text, has a cloud-based file storage for files, and has Pushbullet to get things like web addresses or cryptocurrency keys from computer to phone and vice versa.

He sees how it could be useful for coders and developers or others who switch between devices often, but his flow is already smooth. Nonetheless, he reports he’s open to having his mind changed and will be “giving it a go over the next few weeks” to check for advantages.

Ryan doesn’t really have an opinion one way or the other and has never really considered it. He can see how it would pose a problem if it were sensitive information, “but given the amount personal data we freely give up on a day-to-day basis,” he struggles to see how it’s even an issue.

Damien is not at all interested in syncing his clipboard to the cloud. He often copies and pastes his passwords, “and that is the last thing I want to sync to the cloud.” He just sees no reason for it, and if it was activated by default, he would deactivate it immediately.

I have to admit I’ve downloaded a few apps that said they would save my clipboard history for me, but I never found a use for it really. I’d forget I even had it. So I know I wouldn’t have use for it to be stored in the cloud either, and now that I have read through what the others have said, it would worry me as well. I copy my passwords, activation codes, credit card info, private conversations, etc. I don’t want that in the cloud.

Your Opinion

Do you feel the same as many of our writers, that you don’t want the private info you copy and paste to end up in the cloud? Would you have a use for it to be in the cloud? How do you feel about syncing your clipboard to the cloud? Join our conversation by leaving your thoughts in the comments section below.

One comment

I think this is the most stupid implementation of cloud usage ever! It opens up a unacceptable security hole, especially if you a password safe -which everyone should be doing. Not to mention lots of other stuff that is in the clipboard -it’s a goldmine for sensitive data. Maybe Microsoft is now becoming determined to ensure its OS wont be used by Government and other security conscious organisations that have SecOP’s, including Banking Healthcare. It will be interesting to watch this space and see who comes up with a better alternative OS. Meanwhile thinking of selling my shares.